Five major publishers to jointly develop a new digital e-reader format

Five major magazine and newspaper publishers have joined hands to rival Amazon.com's Kindle electronic-book reader by planning to jointly launch their own digital online storefront to give their Internet readers an extensive selection of reading options on a variety of portable devices.

Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc. jointly announced on Tuesday that they have entered into an independent venture to develop open standards for a new digital storefront and related technology that will allow consumers to enjoy their favourite media content on portable digital devices.

They said that the goal of this digital initiative is to create a highly featured common reading application capable of rendering the distinctive look and feel of each publication, a robust publishing platform optimised for multiple devices, operating systems and screen sizes, a consumer storefront offering an extensive selection of reading options, and a rich array of innovative advertising opportunities.

The companies, which publish titles like Sports Illustrated, Tthe Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, Wired and Vanity Fair, said they will invite other publishers to offer their content via this new digital platform and publishers will derive revenue from content and advertising sales, as well as from print subscriptions.

''For the consumer, this digital initiative will provide access to an extraordinary selection of engaging content products, all customized for easy download on the device of their choice, including smartphones, e-readers and laptops,'' explained John Squires, the venture's interim managing director. ''Once purchased, this content will be 'unlocked' for consumers to enjoy anywhere, anytime, on any platform.''

This new proposed venture will give e-readers the freedom and ability to buy content once and then read it on multiple devices. Currently on the Amazon Kindle reading device, news content cannot be read on all devices like the Sony Corp.'s Reader, whereas in this joint venture digital initiative, one can read content on any platform.